Saturday, December 8, 2007

The Ice Wanderer

The Ice Wanderer by Jiro Taniguchi is a new English collection of a great manga graphic novel with five short stories inspired and done in homage to novelist Jack London (The Call of the Wild, White Fang). The stories contained within The Ice Wanderer deal with man co-existing with sometimes brutal environments and man against other animals on this planet.





Tangiguci's line work, as is clear from the page to the left from The Ice Wanderer, is crisp with a capital "C" and anyone who enjoys Adrian Tomie's art (Optic Nerve) will also enjoy the work of Jiro Taniguchi. Whereas Tomine in his art mostly just concentrates on people and uses shadows and lighting to convey moods and atmosphere, Taniguchi is actually a more rounded artist, in that his backgrounds, be they of cityscapes or nature, have their own character and speak volumes unto themselves. I'd also recommend The Walking Man, another excellent manga graphic novel by Taniguchi that has been translated into English and is a great quiet story about a man just walking through his little village and reflecting on the simple beauties in everyday life.

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